Floridians Standing Their Ground

In May, a jury in Tampa decided that Ralph Wald, 70, was not guilty of murdering a 32-year-old man he'd shot in the back three times. He said he'd caught the man having sex with his wife (successfully claiming he thought the man was a dangerous intruder in his home). However, Marissa Alexander, 34, of Jacksonville, was sentenced last year to 20 years in prison for "aggravated assault" for merely firing a warning shot during an altercation with her estranged husband. The man, Rico Gray, is a serial domestic abuser and admitted he was threatening Alexander that night and that she never actually pointed her gun directly at him. However, the judge denied Alexander use of the "stand your ground" defense because she'd declined to simply walk away from Gray.